AIBU to take out a loan to put in a conservatory?

[Mirrorwriting]

We are first time buyers and have just exchanged contracts. Would it be unreasonable to take out a loan to put in a conservatory as soon as we move in?

My friends had a beautiful conservatory built.

They then found it was mostly used as an extra fridge in the run up to Christmas. Keeps champagne at the perfect temperature.

Conservatory are outdated now. Unless you are aged 50 and over

I had no idea there was such hatred of conservatories! We moved into a house with one last September. I love gardening and have got tonnes of plants growing in ours, citrus trees and fruit and veg seedlings. Its large and so doubles as a breakfast room and playroom. I love it, spend more time in there than any other room. I guess maybe they are a marmite thing. If YOU like them, and would use one, then get one. The fact that other people dont like them shouldnt influence what you want to do with your home.

They are naff as fuck.
Nearly as bad as hot tubs.

Neither did I, Shadows

Conservatories are shit. It'll be the worst thing you ever do. Yes I like having one more room but it's too hot too cold too damp too aaaaargh!!

Do the people who find them hot not, you know, open the door?

Either five minutes to let the heat out, or just leave it open, and it's lovely! People pay a lot of money to be that warm on holiday. We only use ours sporadically in winter, but it's lovely spring through autumn.

Oh and it's not remotely damp!

Strange. I know loads of people with conservatories and they love them. We put ours in 20 years ago and it was THE very best thing we ever did, it's fantastic. It heats our kitchen/dining in spring and autumn with just the sun coming through and in the summer when it's hot, we're outside anyway. We use it all the time.

So no, they aren't shit.

Agree Shadows it's the most used room in our house.

Kids came round to play this week and despite the double doors being open they complained it was too hot so just play outside then!

Ours is south facing. Was installed by Anglian wankers. Had mould growing up the wall due to no gap being left between the floor and plaster board. All fixed but there's still mould in corners and behind the sofa which is new.

We have a massive radiator, roof and window blinds and a brand new electric fan heater. Still freezing until the fan heater hss been on for 20 minutes even after the radiator has been on for an hour.

Would not get into debt for a high maintenance play room!!

I think it really does depend on how they face. We have a south facing one and today it was hot. Centre of the Sun hot. Totally unusable hot. Tomorrow the temperature is due to drop to 13 degrees. It will be cold in there . Come September you can see your breath in there!

I would suggest waiting and live with what you have for the time being

A conservatory is not necessarily cheaper than a simple extension and the planning permission requirements are the same as an extension link.

We thought long and hard about extending our home. Our thoughts evolved over time. Finally extended a couple of years ago and we are so pleased with what we have ended up doing (an extension rather than a conservatory). If we had rushed into it I doubt we would have ended up with something we are so happy with.

Here are photos of my conservatory and then again after I had it changed into a garden room (well what we call a garden room anyway!).

There were patio doors into the conservatory - we had those taken out and the gap widened to make it open plan when we converted it.

Conservatory was too hot (despite fitting an air conditioner) and difficult to keep clean due to the flies. Garden room is amazing in comparison (although to be fair we loved the conservatory too when we first had it done). My advise it to go straight to the garden room and save money/add more value to your house.

You may be able to extend your mortgage to pay for it at a lower interest rate. It's not a waste if it will increase the value of your house and is more of an extension than a cheap conservatory.

Don't underestimate how much moving home will cost you. We moved nearly a year ago and it's been so much more expensive than originally thought (and we're not FTB). Don't rush in to anything. Get to know your home, the dynamics of the space etc before committing to building anything new.

I suppose it depends on what you intend to do with your conservatory. If a conservatory is what you want would make you happy, do it. It certainly wont be "the worst thing you ever do" ffs

I don't care if mnet thinks they are naff or outdated. I live in mine, surrounded by plants and sunshine. It is my breakfast room, my walk in greenhouse, my happy place. I sit in it and photosynthesize It was a requisite when I was buying a house and the first room I decorated. No-one dares use it as a dumping ground.

ApricotToner

Thanks for sharing the pictures

DameLilly maybe I’ll put a conservatory on my garden room...

@apricottoner did they use the existing foundations for your garden room?

We had to have deeper foundations when we changed ours to a garden room, which unfortunately increased the cost.

It also would have cost us quite a bit extra to have the builders dismantle it, had we not been fortunate enough to sell it for a nominal price as it was relatively new - buyer dismantles.

FemaleDilbert - yes, we used the existing foundations - we were lucky they were deep enough. We put on the conservatory about four years before changing it into a garden room at the same time as some other building work - foundations for that had to support a double height extension so I think they just did it all the same depth. Not sure - we were lucky anyway.

Our builder dismantled the old conservatory for us and we sold it on eBay for about £2K I think. Which was a bonus but would still advocate going straight to the garden room!

Live in the property for say six months.
We love our conservatory. It is large. Our property is spacious , but we live in the conservatory. IMHO build one with two solid walls. Best roof glass you can afford. Make your own roof blinds - Dunelm rods and voile , for 6 months of the year.
I would add it to a 25 year mortgage, if you build a good one.

Two solid walls - includes one wall as the existing property. So you add a solid full height wall and two dwarf walls. The glazing sitting on the two dwarf walls.

I’m not a fan of them either. Maybe the ones in the houses we rented were shit but we barely used them and the roofs always looked messy with leaves and poo etc.

We have a sun room extension on our home now and love it. It’s got lovely big windows and is light and airy. Perfect.